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The ongoing battle to retake Mosul

An Iraqi army soldier stands at the back of a pickup truck next to a burning oil field in Qayara, south of Mosul, Iraq, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana)

The operation to retake Mosul was launched on Oct. 17, and continues to progress each day.

On Oct. 27, CNN reported that almost 1,000 ISIS fighters had been killed. U.S. military officials estimate there are 3,000 t0 5,000 ISIS fighters defending the last major stronghold in Iraq, plus an additional 1,500 to 2,000 ISIS soldiers in a zone outside of Mosul according to CNN.

On Oct. 31, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told the 3,000 to 5,000 militants believed to be inside Mosul, which they overran in June 2014, that there was “no escape” and to “either surrender or die” according to BBC News. On Nov. 1, Iraqi forces entered Mosul city limits allowing them to gain more ground in the fight against ISIS according to Fox News.

Reported by CBC News on Nov. 7, an alliance of U.S. backed Kurdish and Arab groups launched the campaign for Raqqa, operation “Euphrates Anger.” According to CBC News, the campaign “launched amid a complex civil war in Syria which has divided world powers, is not coordinated with President Bashar al-Assad or the Syrian army. The Kurdish element of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) groups fighting towards Raqqa also makes them an unlikely force to recapture the Arab city.”

Reported by CNN on Nov. 11, Mahmoud Shukri al Nuaimi, a senior ISIS commander, was killed in the battle for Mosul. ISIS confirmed his death in a video montage, referring to him as “the martyr of the battle.”

On Nov. 15, Iraqi News reported that 49 ISIS fighters were killed during a U.S. airstrike.